Pam Bobo shopped at the Toys R Us on Clemson Boulevard Thursday with a deep sense of nostalgia.

Bobo, who prefers "hands-on" shopping to the online kind, now looks for items that would appeal to her grandchildren, but she started shopping at the Anderson store a generation ago.

The news that the New Jersey-based retail chain will soon close its 735 stores, barring a last-minute buyer emerging, saddened Bobo.

"I hate it. I shopped here for my daughter, who is now 37 years old, and now I shop for my grandkids," Bobo said. "It's been a wonderful experience, and I hate to see it go."

"It's a shame a company this big was not managed well," she added, referring to corporate decisions of recent years that saddled the company with overwhelming debt. "I feel bad for the people that will lose their jobs."

Bobo was a typical shopper at the Anderson Toys R Us Thursday. About a dozen cars were in the parking lot within 30 minutes of its 10 a.m. opening, and most were grandparents who wanted to use a coupon, browse for bargains, or experience a bit of nostalgia. And in some cases, all of those.

Across the country, an estimated 30,000 employees will be affected.

That includes about 20 employees at the Anderson store, who learned of the planned closure through news reports. No date was announced for the closure.

A statement from Toys R Us said the company would "provide more details about the plans for the liquidation of its U.S. stores and going out of business sales in the near term."

Attempts to reach the corporate office Thursday were not successful.

The store has operated at its present location, 3405 Clemson Blvd., since 1991.

The toy retailer filed a motion Thursday in federal bankruptcy court outlining a plan to liquidate its domestic operations.

The company traces its roots to a New Jersey store in 1948, and its modern incarnation is tied to Charles Lazarus' children's furniture store, which he started in 1948. The World War II veteran added toys to his offerings in 1957, and eventually shifted his focus.

Toys R Us eventually branched out into launching the stores Babies R Us and the now-defunct Kids R Us.

In its prime, the company operated about 800 stores in the U.S. and 800 abroad, but the numbers have been falling in recent years. According to published reports, the company hasn't made a full-year profit since 2012, and lost $935 million in the first nine months of 2017. After filing for bankruptcy protection in September 2017, it needed a strong Christmas sales season to survive. It has yet to announce its fourth-quarter earnings.

The company began going-out-of-business sales at 182 of its worst-performing stores last month.

The roots of its decline are shared by other traditional retail chains: too much debt and too many stores. Toys R Us shuttered dozens of stores as it attempted to deal with close to $5 billion in debt that resulted from a leveraged buyout in 2005.

Meanwhile, retailers like Walmart and Target began to move more aggressively onto its turf, frequently offering toys at lower prices.

One shopper Thursday wasn't wasting any time when she arrived with her 4-year-old son and a coupon that was good through March 24.

"When I saw they might be closing, I thought I'd better use it today," she said. "There's one specific thing I'm looking for, and I know they have it."